That said, here is the thing about racing memoirs: they usually offer a sanitized version of history. But as The Race reports in their breakdown of Christian Horner's new book 'Drive', the Red Bull boss actually drops some wild revelations about the inner workings of Formula 1. Prior to an extensive interview available on YouTube and in podcast form, every page was combed through to extract five little-known details about his journey from aspiring driver to team principal.
First up, young Horner actually shook down a Lotus at the Hethel test track that had been sold to Lawrence Stroll, now Aston Martin F1 co-owner. Back when he was racing in Formula 3, Horner was briefly on Lotus's books as a junior driver with a £170,000 annual fee to pay—potentially with the help of none other than Nigel Mansell. The experience of driving that Formula 1 machine left a mark. "The sound of the engine exploding into life had nearly given me a heart attack," Horner writes, describing how his head snapped back against the headrest and his ribs felt compressed under braking.
That was as close as he got to racing at the top level professionally, but the management side brought even crazier twists. In late 2012, right in the middle of Red Bull's first spell of dominance, Niki Lauda visited Horner's house during the Christmas break to offer him the Mercedes team principal job. Horner claims he was caught off guard, and after being hit with a series of dazzling numbers regarding a potential salary, he ultimately turned it down out of loyalty to Red Bull and Dietrich Mateschitz, paving the way for Toto Wolff to take the role.
Things weren't always secure in the early days, either. Ahead of the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, Helmut Marko let slip that an option to extend Horner's original two-year deal for 2007 wasn't expected to be picked up—a decision later confirmed by letter. But as Horner explains, David Coulthard inadvertently saved the day by scoring Red Bull's first podium with third place in Monaco, cementing Horner's future before Coulthard even knew about the backstage drama.
There is plenty of critique in the memoir aimed at Helmut Marko, too, particularly concerning how his media habits frustrated Adrian Newey. Horner describes Newey growing more agitated with every leak as Marko happily shared insider information and outspoken opinions about drivers, cars, and engineers to favoured platforms.
Finally, the book touches on the explosive departure of Daniel Ricciardo. After the 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix, Ricciardo called Horner to say he was joining Renault, despite Red Bull having agreed to all his terms and matching a $25 million a year pay packet. Horner felt deeply disappointed that a deal agreed with a handshake fell through, suggesting that the desire to escape a team Max Verstappen had made his own ultimately drove the choice.
